what could have been!
by corky165
Summary: this is the alternate ending for the boy in the striped pyjamas where bruno is found before he is killed and shmuel is also alive and him and bruno are best friends and about to become brothers
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ralf was running around searching for his only son bruno then he saw an empty hut and realised he could be in with them about to be killed along with them so he shouted bruno once again and started running when he got to the cabin he saw people being pushed into another room which he knew exactly what it was and he shouted "BRUNO" then he heard the voice he was hoping to hear "DAD" so Ralf ran once again shouting "BRUNO, STOP OPEN THE DOOR RIGHT NOW" and the other soldier said "but sir" and Ralf shouted "NOW" so the soldier opened the door and Ralf goes in and pushes people out the way to get to his son and once he did he pulled his son into a great big hug and says "bruo what was you thinking" in a loving way and bruno replys by saying "i was trying to help my friends shmuel he is kind to me and would never hurt me ever dad im telling the truth" and Ralf believes his son because he can see it in his eyes and then picks him up and says "then he comes with us" and takes shmuel hand and shmuel took it without hesitation and Ralf took the two boys out of that horrible room.

And told the soldier to carry on but keep it quiet so his son will not get more scared then he already is and once they were out he told shmuel to put his clothes back on he didnt really want to put bruno in those clothes so he left him he just put him down on the bench and took his goat off and put it round bruno and picked him up again and carried him out to his mother who was right out side at this point and gave bruno to his mother who took bruno from him and hold him so tight everyone thought she would never let go of him ever again and she looked up at shmuel and he noticed she had tear rolling down her face and then she asks her husband "whos he" and Ralf replys by saying "this is shmuel and he is bruno best friend and bruno told me he is kind and will never hurt him and i believe him" as he said that he joined his wife and daughter hugging bruno and elsa hold out her hand to shmuel and said "thank you for being there for him when he needed it the most"and pulled him into the hug aswell, shmuel didnt say anything he was to scared to say anything at this point and didnt know what to do when elsa pulled him into the hug the family was having.

Then elsa picks bruno up but just before she does she makes sure he is probably covered in the coat his fathers gave him to keep him warm and then she carrys bruno home, and Ralf had a hugh grin on his face because he was happy his baby boy was safe and was thinking 'i will never let him go again and i will always be there for him when he needs it the most' then he realised shmuel walking behind everyone and walks up to him and asks "whats wrong shmuel" and shmuel replys queitly to him "what aboout my father" and Ralf asks him what his fathers name was and shmuel told him and Ralf realises who is father is and says "i dont know how to tell you this shmuel but your father died from a disease he catched before he came to the camp, many people tryed to cure it once he got here and i know he never showed it because he didnt want to scare you from it so he hide it from you i am so sorry" he said kneeling on the floor in front of shmuel and pulls him into a hug because shmuel now started to cry from the loss of his father and hugs Ralf back and Ralf picked him up and carried him the rest of the way. and once they got there Ralf notiched shmuel had fallen asleep in his arm and he looked up at his wife and she said "bruno fall asleep aswell the must be really tired lets put them to bed in brunos room" and with that said they both carried the boys upstairs and into brunos room, Ralf put shmuel on the bed that was in the middle of the room while elsa got bruno dressed into his pyjamas and gave Ralf some spare ones to change shmuel so he wasnt in those dirty pyjamas anymore then once they both were done they went to the door and turned around and elsa says "everything will change now" and Ralf nodded and closed the door behind them once they left the two sleeping boys to sleep.

**i would just like to say i would never have wrote this without the help of one of my best friends charlotte. And i hope you enjoyed it there will be more chapters on the way and i hope you enjoy all of them.**


	2. Chapter 2

chapter 2

when bruno and shmuel woke up after being asleep for at least 2 hours after they got back from nearly being killed at that camp. Ralf and elsa made bruno, shmuel and gretel some dinner and shmuel was that hungry that he ate all of the food that was on his plate. the next day Ralf and elsa are trying to tell the kids that they are gonna move again but shmuel is scared that they are going to leave him but Ralf looks at him and says "your coming with us so dont think we are going to leave you here" he had said while putting a hand on shmuels shoulder and shmuel smiles and then bruno comes into the room and asks his mom and dad where they were moving to and elso replys by saying "we are moving to europe to start a new life in a different part of the country" bruno says "ok" with a sad smile. Elsa looks at her husband with a knowing look, and Ralf tells the kids to go to bed and then he tucks them ito bed and then he meets elsa in the dining room to discuss bruno because he has been acting strange ever since the tragedy that accured a couple of hours ago.

And then elsa speaks up "we need to keep a close eye on bruno" then Ralf says "i know we also have to make sure shmuel feels like he belongs in this family and is comfortable with the changes that will come to his life now that he is no longer in that camp" then they agree to sleep on it and the next morning htye wake up and decide to give it a couple of months before they fully decide to adopt shmuel and to see if bruno and gretel are ok with it but mostly to see if bruno opens up to them and then decide on what is best for them. but at this moment they are really scared bruno won't open up to them. then elsa and Ralf walked into the living room and saw gretel reading a book on the sofa and her showing shmuel the book while she reads because she has gotten used to shmueland feels really sorry for him and she was showing him how to read, then they saw bruno on the floor in the corner crying and elsa asks her daughter "how long has he been like that gretel" and gretel replys by saying "i dont know he just came down like 2 mins before you walked in" elsa looked at her husband who was making his way over to bruno and knelt down beside him and says "bruno are you going to tell us whats wrong, cause we cant help you if you don't" he said putting an arm around bruno who flinched from the touch and Ralf put a sad smile on his face but then bruno nodded and Ralf picked him up and put him on the sofa since elsa told gretel to take shmuel upstairs so they could talk to bruno. bruno sat there for a while not speaking and then finally said "dad do you know exactly whats going on in that camp" he said starting to to cry but hold back some of the tears. and Ralf says "yes of course i do son" and bruno looked up at him and says "really so did you know that lieutenant kotler never left and was there hurting people including me" he said with a hint of anger in his voice thats when Ralf looked at his son with a shocked face and says "what do you mean including you" he asked his son and bruno says "he was there dad and he saw mw and didnt even try to help instead he started kicking and punching me in the stomach while saying 'you deserve all this and everything your gonna get' and when mom was carrying me out, i saw him and he mouthed to me 'i will find you' and then i fall asleep i guess"

elsa then started to hug her son really tightly while she was crying with tears rolling down her face but Ralf on the other hand looked like he was going to kill someone and he then joined his wife in hugging bruno and says "we won't let him touch you ever again i promise" then with that said they were in that position for another hour or two before they finally noticed that bruno had fallen asleep and Ralf carried him upstairs and got him dressed for bed and then told shmuel to go to bed aswell in brunos room and gave his son a kiss goodnight but didnt think shmuel would be comfortable with it yet so he turned the lift off and shut the door behind him and went to bed himself.

**well theres chapter 2 and there will be more soon but i would like to say thank you to charlotte once again for helping me create this story so anyway i hope you enjoyed it.**


	3. Chapter 3

chapter 3

the next morning their all packed and ready to go to start a new life somewhere else. Bruno and shmuel are still asleep so gretel goes upstairs to wake them up and tell them to get dressed and ready to leave in the next 30 minutes... 30 minutes later they all put their bags in the car and then start the car, and drive through the gates. the gate opens and they leave the house. on the trip there they are talking about what had happened and bruno interupts and tells them to stop because shmuel had started to cry cause he really didnt want to be reminded about what had happened to him and the other, and gretel hugs shmuel and elsa and ralf stop talking about what had happened so then bruno falls asleep and when they finally got to their new house they park the car onto the drive and get out of the car and gretel carries bruno into the house because he was still asleep. when bruno finally woke up they started unpacking the car and the van then they take the furniture into the house and into the rooms. bruno and shmuel are gonna share a room and gretel has her own since she is the only girl and is the oldest. while they are unpacking they find old stuff from the old house and it was gretels posters and brunos football and his bag.

bruno and shmuel are laughing and talking when elsa, ralf and gretel walk in and say "boys we are going into town would you like to come with us" and they say "no can we stay here please" and elsa says "yes but do not answer the door to no one okay we have a key to get in" so when thye leave they lock up all the doors and says bye to the boys and once they are gone bruno goes down stairs to get a drink and something to eat and shmuel followes him and then they sit downstairs and wait for them to get back from town and the all of a sudden the door knocks and bruno goes to see who it is even though he cant answer it he would like to know who it is and then he sees that it is lieutenant kotler and backs away from the door and over to shmuel who was really confused.

**well thats chapter 3 i'm sorry its short but the next chapter will be longer i promise and i would like to say thank you to my friends charlotte again for helping me with chapter so THANK YOU SO MUCH CHARLOTTE**


	4. Chapter 4

chapter 4

the door rings again but they still don't answer it so the lieutenant kotler goes round to the back door and breaks it down and Shmuel and Bruno run upstairs but before Bruno got very far kotler** (just gonna call him that so don't have to waste my time writing lieutenant kotler) **grabs Bruno and pulls him towards him and yells at him "i told you i was gonna get you again" and Bruno is really scared and starts to cry and looks at Shmuel who kotler did not see and Bruno mouthed to him to go hide upstairs and Shmuel did what he was told to do and didn't quietly so kotler didn't find him. then kotler drags Bruno outside and over to his car and opens his trunk and pulls out some rope and wraps it around brunos wrist and ankles and then throws him in the trunk and goes into his pocket and pulls out a roll of tape and puts some over brunos mouth who had started to scream for help, then looks down at Bruno who had began to cry once again and smiled at him then slammed the trunk shut closed and get into the driver's seat and drives away at full speed.

then 5 mins later Elsa and Ralf arrive home and go through the back door and notice that the door has been knocked down so Elsa scream the boys names but she didn't get an answer from either one of them and Ralf runs upstairs to find Shmuel and Bruno and then finds Shmuel hiding under his bed and Ralf kneels down and says "Shmuel what happened and where's Bruno" then Shmuel started to shake and cry and says "he...came...and...took...him...Bruno...told...me. ..to...hide...and...i...tried...to...help...him... but...he...wouldnt...let...me!" he stuttered and Ralf asks "and Shmuel "who came and took him Shmuel" and Shmuel says "lieutenant kotler he took Bruno" and then Shmuel starts to cry even more than he did before but Ralf on the other hand was getting really angry and guilty with the fact that he had promised Bruno that he would protect him from kotler and now kotler has Bruno and he doesn't know where they are. then he calms down because he remembers Shmuel was still in the room and still under the bed scared to death so he says " okay Shmuel we are going to sort this out but i need you to come out from under the bed to explain to us exactly what happened okay, no one will hurt you"and shmuel looks up at ralf and nods and starts to come out from under the bed and Ralf takes his hand and helps him up and says "good now let's go downstairs to the others" and takes him downstairs to his wife and daughter.

once Elsa sees Shmuel she notices he has red puffy eyes and realises Bruno is not with them and asks he husband where Bruno is and what had happened to Shmuel and he says "kotler has taken Bruno and Bruno told Shmuel to hide and he did and kotler took Bruno and when i get my hands on him I'm going to hands on him I'm going to kill him for kidnapping my son" she gasps and starts to cry for her son and Gretel starts to cry aswell for her brother.

**WITH BRUNO SOMEWHERE ELSE **

now Bruno was really scared he wanted to go home to his parents and sister and he felt like they have driven for hours when they finally came to a halt and he heard a car door slam shut and he started to panick then the trunk opened and there was kotler with a huge smile on his face and he hold up his hand up and in his hand was a needle so he started to scream because he was scared of want was in the needle and started to move around to get away from kotler but it didn't work because kotler grabbed him by his arms and lifted him out of the trunk and placed the needle down and went into his pocket and pulled out a cloth and placed it over brunos eyes so he could no longer see anything and then he felt himself being pulled up to his feet but then he felt a stinging sensation in his neck and his head started going fuzzy but he just about heard kotler say something to him "this is what you deserve when you double cross me, and don't worry you will be knocked soon so it wont hurt for long" and with that said his world went blank but he could hear laughter in the distance.

when he finally woke up he realised he was tied to a metal table and no longer had the cloth over his eyes but he did still have tape over his mouth and he tried to wriggle his way out of the rope but they were too tight and that's when the door swung open and standing in the door way was kotler with a knife in his hand and a huge grin on his face then he said "this is gonna make my day" he says walking over to Bruno and lifting up his shirt and he placed the knife on brunos stomach and he takes the tape off of brunos mouth and Bruno started to cry and he said to him "please don't d..do this i s...swear i w...won't tell anyone if y..you l...let me g...go" and kotler replys by saying "now why would i do that it will wreck the fun" he said with a giant smile then he started carving into Bruno with the knife and he wrote onto his stomach 'you deserve this' and Bruno was screaming and crying out for him to stop but that just made kotler laugh and when he finally stopped and Bruno started crying really loud and kotler slapped a hand over his mouth and they heard a knock on the door and Bruno tried to scream but kotler had muffled his screams then he took out the tape and put some over brunos mouth, and told him to keep it quiet or else and went to open the door but to his relief it was just the neighbor asking what all the noise was and he just told him he just had a new dog and when the neighbor asked to see this dog and kotler yelled no and slammed the door shut and went into the room where Bruno was and went up to him and slapped him around the face and says "you nearly got us caught by that stupid neighbor you little brat" that's when Bruno lost consciousness and kotler left the room.

Bruno then woke up a day later and all the memory's came back of what happened the night before and realised he didn't no longer have the tape on but he thought it was useless to try to scream cause it will just land him a beating twice as bad as the first own and when he looked down and saw the blood covering his shirt and he was in so much pain it even hurt when he breathed because he has lost too much blood and he is a bit fuzzy then the door bursts open and kotler comes in and walks over to Bruno and says "this is where my life gets better" and he unties him and drags him out of the room and down the hall into another room with a chain dangling from the ceiling in the center of the room and kotler chains Bruno to it and lifts him off of the floor.

then kotler injects something into his neck again but this one didn't make him pass out it just made his head all fuzzy then kotler turned and left the room and two hours later he hears a banging but couldn't figure out what it was happening cause his head was all over the place and then he heard loud noises but couldn't understand what it was and then the door opens and a man enters and walks over to him and the man came into clear view it was his father "dad" he said trying to stay awake and his dad lets him off of the chain and holds him on his lap and says to him "Bruno I'm sorry, i will make this up to you i promise" and replys by saying "dad d..don't make p..promises y...you can't k...keep" then he passes out in his dads arms and Ralf carries him out to the ambulance that was waiting outside.

**well there you have it chapter 4 hope you like it as much as the others and i would like to thank my friend charlotte once again so anyway hope you enjoyed it**


	5. Chapter 5

chapter 5

Bruno woke up the next morning in the hospital to sees that his mom, dad and Gretel, Shmuel are sitting by his bed. then his mom notices and runs up to his bed and gives him a big hug and starts to cry when the doctor comes in and explains why he has been passed out for so long he said it was from what ever he was injected with and said he will be fine once it passes through his system the Elsa says "thank god so he will be ok" and the doctor says "yes he will be ok but there are other injures that he has which we will need to keep an eye on them but other than that he should be fine" then else says "thank you doctor" "its okay we will do our best in making you look better" and the doctor walked out leaving the room quiet.

then suddenly Shmuel speaks up and says "so is he going to be okay then" and Elsa tells him whats going on and then the doctor comes in and asks to talk to Ralf and Elsa outside and Elsa asks him"so when can we take him home doctor" and he says "about 5-7 days because he needs to be stable to walk and at the moment his not, and anyway I needed to tell you that Bruno needs surgery for the wounds on his stomach" and Ralf asks "why you said they were fine" I know but I didn't realise how deep the wounds were untill I had a proper look at them, well anyway it will be in half an hour and the surgery will only last an hour then he will be back in here" he said giving them a smile and Ralf says "ok thanks for letting us know, now we need to let Bruno know" the doctor then says "ok I will send someone in to get him ready in about 10 minutes" he said walking away.

when they walked back into Bruno's room and find Gretel and Shmuel sitting on the bed with Bruno but Bruno was just looking at the ceiling not saying a word to them, and Elsa spokes up "ok guys be carefull and Bruno you need to have surgery to fix the wounds on your stomach because the wounds are to deep ok" Bruno nodded then started to cry cause he was remembering how he got the wounds in the first place, and Ralf runs up to Bruno and hugs him and tells him that everything will be okay and that he will make it through this.

then the nurses come in and get Bruno ready for surgery and once they have taken him up to surgery Elsa started to cry and Ralf asks "whats wrong they said it will go alright" and Elsa says "no not that Bruno hasn't said a word to us since he woke up and I'm worried that he might not talk to us "Elsa his terrified after what happened to him we just have to make sure he know his save with us" Elsa nodded in agreement and the hugged her husband and Shmuel and Gretel joined them.

an hour later they bring Bruno back down but he is still unconscious and they say he will wake up in the next 20 minutes. so they wait for him to wake up and once Bruno wakes up he looks around all confused. then when its time to leave Ralf kisses Bruno to go home with Gretel and Shmuel and Elsa stayed at the hospital with Bruno because he is under age. and when Ralf, Shmuel and Gretel got home Ralf told Shmuel to get some stuff for Bruno for them to take back to the hospital for Bruno and Elsa. 4 hours later they go to the hospital to find out that Bruno and Elsa fast asleep so they put the stuff on the table, and Ralf walked over to Bruno and kissed him on the forehead and whispered to him "I promise I will catch that guy if it's the last thing I do" and gave his wife a kiss on the forehead aswell and told the nurse behind the desk to make sure that they know they stopped by. then they left to go home and have some rest.

**AT THE HOSPITAL WITH BRUNO**

Elsa was sitting reading a book while Bruno was asleep on the bed next to her when all of a sudden there was a loud scream which made her jump then she looked up and noticed Bruno screaming and tossing and turning in the bed and she realised that he was having a nightmare and shot up out of the chair she was in and ran over to her son trying to get to him to try to wake him up from his nightmare she already knew he was having from the way he was screaming. then the nurses and doctors come in to stop him from injuring himself further. that's when Bruno shot up and started crying and Elsa hold him close to try to calm him down and whispered to him "everythings going to be okay, your safe I wont let no one harm you" she said while rubbing circles on his back to calm him down. then she realised Bruno's breathing evened out so she knew he had fallen asleep once again but she did not want to leave her son's side.

the next day Ralf, Gretel and Shmuel walked into Bruno's room and what Ralf saw made his heart-break, Bruno was tossing and turning and screaming in his mothers arms but the doctors pulled her away and she started crying her eyes out so he ran over to her and pulled her into a big hug and asked her what happened and she says "well he did the same thing last night when you left but I got him to calm down then he started again about 5 minutes ago, and now they can't get him to calm down" then the doctor gave Bruno a needle to help him calm down and it did work but he was still crying and Ralf ran up to him and pulled him into a hug and Bruno just cried into his father's shoulder while Ralf whispered into his ear "shhhhh shhhhh your okay" and once he had calmed down Ralf and Elsa went to talk to the doctor and Gretel and Shmuel talked to Bruno while sitting on the bed with him.

when they was talking about what to do about Bruno the doctor said "well we will need to run more test" and Elsa says "what kind of tests" and the doctor says "well to see why he is having these nightmares but I think I know what it is but he does have other injury's we need to keep an eye on but I don't think he will be in for long I would say about 2 days" he said answering Ralf's question on when Bruno can got home. then when Bruno was finally able to go home he was happy but didn't show it at all the doctor just said he had a concussion to bounce back from and had a lot of bruises that need to go down and a lot of bad wounds that need to be changed everyday which his mom has said she will do but Bruno still has not said a word to anyone not since the day his father found him and his parents are getting really worried that he will never talk to them again.

a couple of hours later they got home Bruno was carried up stairs to his room so he could rest and still didn't say anything. Ralf and Elsa was still worried about Bruno so they was talking and Ralf said "do you think we should get a doctor's advice or leave it for a couple of days to see if he will come around and start talking" and Elsa says "its early days lets just wait if he hasn't spoken in a couple of days if not we will call someone like a specialist" so they both agreed to wait. the next week there still wasnt any change in Bruno so they still waited and got on with what they was doing. Elsa gave Bruno his medication and changed his dressing on his stomach. Shmuel called Ralf and he started to cry asking if Bruno was going to be okay and Ralf hugged him but Ralf didn't even know if Bruno was going to be okay so he couldn't answer but he had tears in his eyes from letting this happen to his baby boy. then Elsa carried Bruno downstairs so he wasnt alone and placed him on the sofa with the rest of the family and have lunch with them and Gretel brought her brothers and Shmuel's lunch in including hers. then Bruno was about to say something but he quickly changed his mind and Ralf and Elsa got up and asked him to say what he was going to say but he just sat there looking at his own lap. so then Ralf, Elsa started talking out in the hall on what to do and Ralf asked is his father would help them get Bruno to talk since Bruno loves him very much and Elsa agreed.

so the next day Ralf phoned his father and asks "hey dad I know this is out if the blue but would you be able to visit us because Bruno is ill and well we will tell you more once you get here" and his father answer by saying "omg ok but tell me this how bad is it exactly" Ralf sighed and said "well lets just say he isn't talking to anyone and I would tell you what happened but it wont work of the phone" and his father say "ok I'll be there soon bye" "bye dad cant wait to see you" he then hung up the phoned and went to tell his wife that his father will be here as soon as he can.

**well there you have it another chapter and I really hope you enjoyed it and I would also like to thank once again my friend charlotte who is helping me write this story oh and please give me a review I would like to know what you think about it.**


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